Tomorrow, the Senate Education and Health Committee will consider my HB 2341. It grew out of a serious incident in Fairfax County. A student was badly beaten in the community on a weekend. Police charges were filed in the case. But because the offense took place off school property, the principal of the school had no alternative but to allow that student back into the school until the case was adjudicated.

 

Naturally, the victim was terrified. In addition to suffering from the beating, the victim now had to face the assailant each day in school. Out of fear, the student did not return to the school until the assailant had been removed.

 

My bill provides that in cases where a student is charged with a community crime that involves serious physical harm to another student in the same school, principals could impose a short-term (no longer than ten days) suspension until the school decides whether that student should be placed in an alternative school. Here are some reasons I believe the legislation should be passed:

 

• The bill is very limited. It will apply only in cases of a small number of very serious crimes—felony assault, criminal sexual assault, mob assault. In all these cases, the school that would limit it to students in the same school. Fairfax estimates they would need to use the provisions of this legislation only a few times each year.
• The suspension will be extremely short term. Under current law, the principal would be allowed to suspend the student for a period of no longer than ten days. During this time, current law provides that the student must be told about alternative education arrangements. In Fairfax, that would mean the student would be allowed to access an online assignment system to keep up with assignments.
• As a practical matter, there will be a student out of school in a case like this. The policy decision before the Senate will be whether that student is the victim or the assailant.

Across the Commonwealth, people have today off. Schools, banks, and offices are closed.

We don’t. When the General Assembly convenes, we meet. Every day. Come snow, sleet, or federal holiday.

I used to regret the lack of a day off. But over time, I’ve recognized the wisdom of holding a session on a day when other people aren’t working.

Many of the citizens who aren’t working are here in Richmond. They are taking their day off to visit their elected representatives and observe democracy at work.

Groups include the ARC of Northern Virginia, a Girl Scout troop from Clifton, several Boy Scout troops, the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, members of the Speech Language and Hearing Association of Virginia, and many, many more. (In fact, it took more than 25 minutes to introduce all the visitors during the Morning Hour.)

We are delighted they are here.

It usually takes a little time for the really good and the really gawdawful bills to surface. But now at the midway point, I think we have a nominee in the latter category.

It’s Del. Mark Cole’s HB 2528.

Del. Cole has introduced legislation that says local police departments can’t set up gun buyback programs unless they SELL THE GUNS BACK.

So, we buy guns from people to get them off the streets. Then apparently because some Delegates can’t bear the thought of any gun actually being, say, melted down, we require the police department to sell the guns back to licensed dealers. From whence they end up back on the street.

I pretty much thought the purpose of gun buyback programs was, well, to buy guns and not to sell them. Current law, by the way, allows police departments to sell the guns if they wish.

Of course HB 2528 passed the House. But it limped out with 33 negative votes, a fairly high number of “no” votes from a group that generally believes that an armed society is a polite society.

We will await its fate in the Senate.

Walk into the GAB on most Valentine’s Days and you will think you’ve entered a parallel universe. Democrats and Republicans deck themselves out in red and pink. Normally serious aides decorate desks with all the red hearts available at the local CVS Drug Store.

Think of the Valentine box that won the fourth grade decorating contest and you’ll get an idea of what the GAB usually looks like.

This year, things were more subdued.

Valentine’s Day came on a Saturday, which left people confused about which day was the appropriate substitute. The economy and the budget are in the tank, so spending money on red tchochkes just didn’t seem as fun as it might have in the past.

Still, people came up with ways to celebrate. My secretary, Donna Knicely, asked for donations to the food bank in lieu of flowers and chocolate. Since she has an artistic bent, she arranged the cans of tuna and the boxes of cereal as artfully as any still life.

Staffers on the 8th floor put their recycling skills to work. They even crafted a rocking chair out of milk cartons. And there was more than enough chocolate to give everyone a sugar high.

Back to serious business on Monday. Meanwhile, Happy Valentine’s.

We had a lot of talk about autism this week. Delegates Bob Marshall and David Poisson had worked on a bill that would have expanded insurance coverage to mandate coverage for autism. It died in committee.

However, through a rarely-used parliamentary move, Delegate Marshall moved to discharge the committee (essentially forcing a floor vote). That motion also was defeated.

Later, we voted–twice–on a voucher bill that had been rewriten to focus on services for children with autism.

For a growing number of Virginia families, these are not academic conversations. Their children have been diagnosed with autism and they are struggling to find effective treatments.

No one knows what is causing the rise in autism in young children. But one thing we learned this week: the fear that vaccines might cause autism has been laid to rest.

Turns out the doctor who made those charges simply made up his data. So many parents mistakenly withheld life-saving vaccinations from their children.

The doctor will face professional disgrace and perhaps even criminal charges. But how can he ever make amends to parents who have spent years worrying that they may have somehow been responsible for their child’s disability?

Sometimes, you go to a movie even though you know how it’s going to end. Meg Ryan will live Happily Ever After. The Caped Crusader will win in the end.

There are some subcommittees here in the General Assembly that are like that. Once your bill is sent there, the outcome is a foregone conclusion. 

That was my sense when my Primary Seat Belt law was sent to a committee not known to be friendly to such legislation.

 

The outcome? No surprise. But the Senate still has a primary seat belt bill, so the issue is not over.

 

 

On this historic day, a number of Members found themselves in Washington DC on “pressing personal business.” For those of us who remained in Richmond, we had a brief session at 10:00 AM. Then we gathered around television sets to take in the goings-on 100 miles north of us.

Over a dozen Members — a mix of Democrats and Republicans — remained in the House chamber and watched the ceremony on the Jumbotron screens that usually carry floor proceedings and roll call votes.

Happy Inauguration Day, America. And thank you, Ken.

One of the supreme ironies of the legislative session is that while there’s lots of STUFF to post about, there isn’t any TIME. So here is my list of the best and worst things that happened this week.

The best thing was actually two best things–two significant rules changes that will open up what we do in Richmond for the public were passed. House Democrats had argued that allowing live streaming of sessions (the Senate has had this practice for years) and recording votes in subcommittee would be a common-sense, good government issue. This week, after huge pressure from groups across the political spectrum, the Other Side agreed with us.

And the worst? In a blatantly partisan power move, the Republican leadership refused Charniele Herring a seat in the House. She was duly elected and had a Certificate of Election, but was nonetheless denied the opportunity to serve the people of her district.

Today is the 74th anniversary of Elvis’ birth. If he were in Virginia, he might have a few comments on our upcoming General Assembly session:

Way Down – Revenues continue to decline as the recession continues.

Doing the Best I Can – The attitude we all need when looking at the budget. Our goal should be to ensure that the budget protects classrooms, nursing homes, and people who need our help most.

Any Day Now – When the Free Lunch crowd will figure out that you can’t build roads without sustainable revenue. (Northern Virginia businesses would probably sing, “It’s Now or Never.”)

I Just Can’t Help Believing -That Virginia voters will watch carefully what happens this year. This is not a year for rigid ideology. It’s a year for finding solutions.